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11-06-2023, 06:16 PM | #1 |
Shut the fuck up!
Location: "Okay, white power feminist" - yo soy el mejor
Posts: 23,882
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Cold Turkey stories. The drugs, not the Thanksgiving leftovers.
A month ago I stopped taking Sertraline (Zoloft), cold turkey! I've been on it for years. I've tried to get off it half a dozen times, but would always end up back on it, because the withdrawal felt so bad.
It's been BAD. Headaches, extreme fatigue, brain fog, wild mood swings, horrible nausea. The worst dreams i've had in years. Last night i had a long dream where one of my friends died. And I was forced to carry around his dismembered body in a duffel bag for a week. I didn't kill him. Somehow his will stated that I had to do this. By the end of the week he had deteriorated into a pile of mush and bones. The dream only ended cause my alarm went off. It took me 15 min awake before I was convinced it didn't happen. Aside from the nightmares, though, the worst of it seems to have ended a week ago. I feel almost back to normal now. I would compare it to having Covid, except it lasts for weeks or months instead of 4 or 5 days. Why stop taking a Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor? Cause it makes me feel nothing. Like... I stopped feeling such extreme anxiety, which was good. But I also stopped having any kind of desire for sex. People would treat me like shit at work and I would think "oh well" and I would just let it happen. Also over years kind of just stopped being excited about anything. What it didn't do was stop suicidal ideation, body dysmorphia, and a whole lot of other issues i live with. It stopped me from overreacting to those things, back when I was a mess and trying to kill myself. But it didn't really stop any of it. Just kind of made me feel kind of numb 90% of the time. And I blame all that on the SSRI. If you choices are die or go on meds. Choose the meds. you can always get off them in the future. Although, the longer you're on them, the nastier it will be. |
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11-06-2023, 06:28 PM | #2 |
Ownz
Posts: 905
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why did you decide to go cold turkey rather than taper off? glad you are free!
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11-06-2023, 06:35 PM | #3 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Posts: 3,719
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I am on Zoloft for OCD, but the fact that I'm dependent at this point does make me a bit nervous. My OCD was absolutely crippling though.
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11-06-2023, 08:06 PM | #4 |
Shut the fuck up!
Location: "Okay, white power feminist" - yo soy el mejor
Posts: 23,882
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11-06-2023, 08:07 PM | #5 |
Shut the fuck up!
Location: "Okay, white power feminist" - yo soy el mejor
Posts: 23,882
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11-07-2023, 02:21 PM | #6 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Location: some broken utopia
Posts: 2,067
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I think I've talked before about my attempt to come off sertraline. I've been on and off SSRIs since eighteen. It used to be citalopram/Celexa, which wasn't too bad when I came off it, mostly just headaches and a feeling of like electric "zaps" down my arms, which cleared up after a week or so.
I started sertraline about ten years ago, went up to 150mg. In 2020 I tried to come off it by tapering down, but had terrible withdrawals. One of the worst bits was regularly becoming lightheaded/dizzy and feeling like I was about to pass out, which happened a few times a day. In the end I had a really long and scary panic attack, and after that I just gave in and went back on it, back up to my previous dose. Like you, one of my reasons for stopping it was a sense that it was making me quite numb in several ways. Now I feel I am just stuck on it. Last edited by Elijah Moon : 11-07-2023 at 02:50 PM. |
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11-07-2023, 03:03 PM | #7 | |
Shut the fuck up!
Location: "Okay, white power feminist" - yo soy el mejor
Posts: 23,882
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Quote:
It's really hard to get off it because of the withdrawl. My last therapist was no help and would say things like "is your life better now or before the SSRI?" But my life was completely different from before taking SSRI. Most of what's changed wasn't the SSRI. I was my decisions. The SSRI just gave me space to do it. And I don't like being addicted to it, always having to ensure my scipt is filled. getting sick if I miss a day or two. I hated it. |
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11-07-2023, 03:38 PM | #8 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Location: some broken utopia
Posts: 2,067
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Yeah, it sucks. When I was having the withdrawals people were telling me the dizziness, etc could've been from anxiety over Covid/lockdown, when I knew that didn't explain the symptoms. I know what stress/anxiety feels like to me and this was something very different. Plus it gradually all went away once I got back on sertraline, while all the Covid shit was still happening.
I keep telling myself I'm going to come off it again but I keep putting it off because I'm worried about having to go through all the same stuff. |
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11-07-2023, 09:25 PM | #9 |
Braindead
Location: Ignore List
Posts: 17,229
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This kind of stuff has scared me off antidepressants (though I don't think I'm depressed, just anxiety/OCD prone. But my opinion of them is bad.) It can't be as safe as suggested to alter your chemistry in such a heavy way.
I hope your collective med adjustments go smoothly! |
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11-07-2023, 09:41 PM | #10 |
Braindead
Location: Ignore List
Posts: 17,229
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Every recreational drug I've ever quit was done cold turkey. The worst physically was Xanax. I felt better in a week, but was shaky, twitchy, sleepless, and emotionally couch-bound for that week. I know that's not the safe way. I was taking between 3-6 mg in a 24 hour period for the better part of a year. Now I take maybe 3 mg total in an entire year, only for the worst of the panic attacks that I cannot ride out. I don't feel euphoria from them anymore, but it quiets my nervous system when in acute terror.
The hardest emotionally and also second worst physically was cigarettes. It took me about a month to really stop thinking about smoking constantly. I locked myself away whenever I could during that month while I practiced new coping skills. I haven't smoked in 6 years. I smoked for 4 years, quit for 4, then picked it back up and smoked for 4 more years before stopping 6 years ago. It was easier to quit the second time, but not by much. |
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11-08-2023, 01:49 AM | #11 |
THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
Location: || MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID ROCK!!
Posts: 47,245
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years and years ago (nearly 20 years ago) i was trying to quit an antidepressant for maybe the 3rd or 4th time. i felt like things at that point were finally pretty stable and i didn't have a good reason to be on it anymore. i tried tapering, at least one of the times was cold turkey. after the initial crappy period (weeks), i felt like, "ok, cool.. this is pretty... good?" and then inevitably, eventually something challenging or stressful would come up and i just couldn't deal. i'd just get so depressed that i could barely function. my overall spirit just seemed quite brittle. so i went back on and and have never stopped taking them. basically, i felt like trying to quit for the sake of my "ideals" or whatever was counterproductive. it's weird to accept that i'm still taking these things. they do seem sort of like bumpers in the lanes of bowling to a certain degree, keeps me out of trouble to some extent. (and that's not to say that i've never experienced depression while on them of course, i just seem to be able to climb my way out better because i'm on them)
its a different type of medicine that what you describe and the impacts on it are not like you describe. it's basically impossible for me to assess objectively, but i'd say maybe to some extent my emotions are 10-15% muted? maybe? but also maybe that is just what happens when you live life for an additional 20 years. big events like a child being born and a parent dying... at a certain point, i found myself thinking, "shouldn't this be impacting me more? shouldn't i be feeling really intense emotions right now? i don't feel very much" but at a certain point in each of those experiences, i absolutely felt extreme emotions, it just took longer to arrive. and i think i'd attribute that simply to age and having trained myself not to ride the waves of my emotions but largely to stay in command to summarize, trying to tinker with it f'd things up for me so i've just stayed on and it's worked out well. and yet on a certain level, i still don't like that i take it and generally don't talk about it with anyone |
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11-08-2023, 03:30 AM | #12 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
Location: all over the Internet
Posts: 44,548
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aw crap. i just allowed my primary dr to prescribe me sertraline or whatever last week. i've always resisted any head meds because of my "ideals" too. i tried seroquel 15 years ago but that was basically a hard drug
he started me with 50 mg but i've cut them in half so far. took it for the third time today but you all make it sound awful and maybe i don't even want to start. |
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11-08-2023, 03:20 PM | #13 | |
Apocalyptic Poster
Posts: 3,719
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Quote:
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11-08-2023, 04:20 PM | #14 |
real estate cowboy
Location: if Monsanto and Purdue Pharma had a baby
Posts: 36,902
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also sertraline here, since 2000, off and on. everything is clearly fun.
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11-08-2023, 05:23 PM | #15 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
Location: N3t4Euh Haus
Posts: 32,752
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I would probably be dead without sertraline
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11-08-2023, 06:01 PM | #16 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Location: some broken utopia
Posts: 2,067
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It's hard for me to untangle the effects sertraline has had due to factors like other medications I've been on at the same time. I do know of many people it has helped through some desperate situations, so it's not my aim to deter anyone from taking it if it's been suggested for them.
I just think people need to be aware of the potential difficulties in discontinuing it down the line, especially if you end up taking it for years. It wasn't something I was made aware of till I tried to stop. |
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11-08-2023, 06:52 PM | #17 |
Braindead
Location: Ignore List
Posts: 17,229
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I was under the impression this was the cold turkey thread, not the Zoloft thread. How embarrassing!
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11-08-2023, 07:00 PM | #18 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Location: some broken utopia
Posts: 2,067
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Alcohol was a tough one but I managed to kick it while in the nuthouse, and I've gone fourteen years without a drink now. It took me being locked up and unable to get access to alcohol for me to finally stop, and in time I realised alcohol had been a common theme in most of my problems.
Nicotine was actually fairly easy when I successfully quit, back in 2015. All the attempts before that were extremely rough. The day after I quit I read the book 'Easy Way to Quit Smoking' and I think that helped maintain my resolve. I never crave cigarettes now, and I don't like the smell. I didn't bother with vapes, gum, patches etc. just pure cold turkey. Illegal drugs haven't been an issue in many years. I have no interest in them, but if I had to take a drug it'd be low doses of ketamine, as that seemed to cheer me up for a few days and lessen social anxiety. |
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11-08-2023, 07:06 PM | #19 |
real estate cowboy
Location: if Monsanto and Purdue Pharma had a baby
Posts: 36,902
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11-10-2023, 10:25 AM | #20 |
Just Hook it to My Veins!
Location: all over the Internet
Posts: 44,548
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i think we just outed big pharm
let's do a class action lawsuit |
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11-10-2023, 01:11 PM | #21 |
Shut the fuck up!
Location: "Okay, white power feminist" - yo soy el mejor
Posts: 23,882
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11-12-2023, 04:03 PM | #22 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Posts: 2,147
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Be careful with this stuff guys especially Xanax is so messed up.
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11-13-2023, 08:57 PM | #23 |
BOTTLEG ILLEGAL
Location: I'm faced with so many changes that I just might change my face
Posts: 32,800
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i'm on several psych meds (no narcotics) and i have weened downed my doses significantly over the years, but with almost all of them, I hit a point where within 1-2 weeks i'm thinking of suicide daily and 2-3 weeks i'm seriously contemplating. it really is like a light switch... not quite because it does take a bit but like... not that long, and it doesn't matter what is happening in my life. so now i'm stuck on moderate/low doses of five meds. being on them all at one point made sense (if you don't know my story... I promise) but now clearly doesn't but like ????
complex ptsd and psychiatry broke my brain (also MDD and a few other acronyms), but it's working pretty well these days. the meds are all generic and cheap. I'm reliant on meds anyway for asthma. things could be worse. but it grinds my gears I'm on essentially the same meds as when I was in and out of psychiatric hospitals regularly. but yeah like cymbalta 120 --> 60 remeron 45 --> 7.5 seroquel 400 --> 200 lamictal 400 --> 150 wellbutrin I don't mess with I guess it's still a win looking at it this way. Once in a while I try again to go down, sometimes successfully. getting off remeron is THE WORST with the suicidal stuff but it's been a really really long time since I tried and I'm taking soooo little of it, I might try again. My psychiatrist always tells me let's wait until your mood is 8/10 before we ruin it again. Last edited by reprise85 : 11-13-2023 at 09:05 PM. |
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11-15-2023, 10:29 AM | #24 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Posts: 3,425
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I think it took 4-5 months to taper off. It was just small amounts at a time, and if I felt too bad, I'd maybe taper every second day.
Funny how they're called SSRIs when being on them doesn't feel anything like having serotonin. |
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11-15-2023, 02:46 PM | #25 |
Shut the fuck up!
Location: "Okay, white power feminist" - yo soy el mejor
Posts: 23,882
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12-18-2023, 08:05 PM | #26 |
real estate cowboy
Location: if Monsanto and Purdue Pharma had a baby
Posts: 36,902
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12-18-2023, 10:12 PM | #27 |
Minion of Satan
Location: Banned
Posts: 8,874
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No anti-depressant has ever done anything for me. No negative side effect, but none of the main effects they're supposed to have, either.
My shrink just gave up and stopped prescribing anything. Therapy does shit all for me, too. The world truly is a leech and I am, regardless of my fury, in truth, just a hamster on a wheel. |
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12-18-2023, 10:14 PM | #28 |
Minion of Satan
Location: Banned
Posts: 8,874
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DESPITE ALL MY IRE I AM STILL JUST A BIRD ON A WIRE
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12-19-2023, 05:23 AM | #29 |
Minion of Satan
Location: Banned
Posts: 8,874
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DESPITE MY HUGE TANTRUM I AM STILL JUST A FISH IN AN AQUARIUM.
DESPITE MY ILL HUMOUR I AM STILL JUST A SKINK IN AN ENCLOSURE. |
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12-19-2023, 10:25 AM | #30 |
Apocalyptic Poster
Posts: 2,147
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Have you guys considered estradiol
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